Page 69 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

Jackson cocked his head to the side and met her gaze.

“How am I playing with your head?”

“I heard you! I felt you,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. “Just take me back to the bedroom; I’ll be okay on my own for the rest of the day.”

“What exactly did you hear, Layla?”

She frowned at the expression on his face. He looked so genuinely puzzled that she started to doubt herself. When she was younger, her father had worn that same expression every time she’d told him about the wolf that came to visit and talk to her.

Was it happening again? Was she losing her mind?

Her shoulders sagged with the realisation that maybe her mind was about to snap again. People didn’t growl like animals. Wolves didn’t have glowing red or blue eyes. And they weren’t huge like the thing she’d imagined jumping over her.

She turned away from Jackson’s probing gaze to face the door. This was the worst time for her mind to play such tricks on her. Not knowing what was real or imagined would hinder her escape plans if she didn’t sort her head out first.

“Nothing. It was nothing,” she lied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m probably just tired.”

“Okay. Let’s get you to bed.”

Jackson opened the door and allowed her out first. Once again, she didn’t see anyone else around as she walked down the hallway to the lobby, but she could feel Jackson’s gaze burning through her.

And she could hear the growl playing in her mind over and over again. The deepness of it. The way it seemed to rumble through the air like a force of nature.

It felt so real...

She put her arms around herself as she walked up the stairs and didn’t say a word to Jackson, who was walking behind her for a change. When she finally opened his bedroom door and then turned to face him, she saw that expression on his face again.

It looked like worry.

Maybe he was wondering if he had picked the right woman for a surrogate after all.

“Do you want to speak to your sister now?” Jackson asked.

It felt like he was throwing her a bone, just like her father used to do. When it had happened back when her father still gave a shit about her, he would buy her some ice cream and make more of an effort to spend time with her. Like he was treading on eggshells while waiting for her to snap.

Of course, she’d never snapped. She’d just gotten better about not revealing things that would make people look at her differently.

“Yes, thank you,” she answered.

Jackson pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number before he handed it to her.

“Five minutes,” he said to her before walking to the bathroom.

Was he not going to supervise her anymore?

She didn’t have much time to think about it when a male voice came on the phone.

“Um... hi,” she answered. “Can I speak to my sister?”

The man didn’t ask why she was using his boss’ phone, and judging by how quickly Brit came on, he must have been in the same room. Her anxiety ramped up. This had to be what made her hear and see things that were not there. She’d put Brit in danger by revealing she wasn’t safe—Brit would be a mess with worry.

“Lay, are you okay?” Brit asked straight away.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

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